Dodik's view on stability and Dayton Accords

15. Maja 2014. Dalio Sijah

Milorad Dodik

Republic of Srpska is respected, among other things, because it is the most stable in the region and it solves all its problems within legal framework. EU integrations are a necessity for us, and as for NATO integrations, people of Srpska will give their opinion on a referendum.

The president of Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, rarely misses an opportunity to portray this entity as very stable on economic and political level, but also that this entity is also follows the Dayton peace agreement “to a T”.

It is clear that, in preelection period, SNSD’s leader is trying to show results of his party’s long time governance in RS in positive light, but reviews like this one are far from reality.

Republic of Srpska is far from economic stability and this, among other things, is confirmed by the fact that this entity, just as the Federation of BiH, can’t keep budget stability in this year without the IMF credit tranche, which will not be paid because of a credit agreement failure.

Dodik has himself confirmed that he is in negotiation process with Russian banks for credit loan in the amount of 200 million euro to keep budget stability of RS, because of the lack of IMF’s money. So, it is absolutely inconceivable to talk about economic stability of an entity which is trying to solve budget deficit with foreign loans.

Furthermore, it is also untrue that all political questions in RS are solved “within the framework of Dayton agreement”. Best example for this is the recently adopted „Provisions of Government of Republic of Srpska about conducting reviews of corectness of data given when applying for residence on RS territory”. This decision is in direct breach of Anex VII of Dayton peace agreement – an issue recently covered by Istinomjer. Same decision is also evaluated by international community as troubling and not in accordance to the law and the Constitution.

Matter of residence is strictly defined on state level, so any adoptance of any decision on entity level can be considered as transgression of “Dayton constitution”. So, Dodik’s claims are also false in this respect.

Dodik’s stance regarding membership in NATO is also not consistent with the views that he once had on this issue. Specifically, Dodik declared in 2009 that NATO entry is “a done deal”, only to change the rhetoric completely after the election in 2010, when he switched to the narrative of a referendum in which the citizens of RS will decide if they support joining the NATO.

So, given these facts, we can conclude that in just one statement Dodik gave two false arguments, and again showed inconsistency in attitudes related to BiH membership in NATO.